Dog-Walker Trampled By a Herd of Killer Cows

A policeman suffered four broken ribs and a punctured lung when he was attacked by cows.

50-year-old Inspector Chris Poole said: "I worked on a farm and with cattle when I was a youngster and always told people not to worry about cows and said they never attacked. Little did I know."

He was walking his ten-year-old Golden Retriever Zak and decided to put him on a lead as they entered the cattle field and continued along a designated footpath. Poole said: "Suddenly, one cow started mooing and then others began running towards me. There were about 50 of them.

"We were surrounded but I wasn't scared and waved and shooed them away as they came close. They were focused on Zak and became more agitated as they got nearer and nearer. "Then I felt this cow butt me hard in the back. I fell to the ground and let go of Zak's lead.

"There were hooves all around me and I was being repeatedly head butted as I lay there. I felt my ribs go and I suffered a gash on my head." The cows became distracted when Zak fled and Poole seized the moment to get up, stagger to a gate and escape.

He was rescued by the Sussex Police helicopter which he ran for six years, and he later survived a second life-threatening ordeal in hospital when one of his broken ribs severed an artery.